Posts Tagged ‘Laos’

New luxury hotel to open in Luang Prabang

22 September 2010 by

The Alila Hotel and Resorts Group are opening a new hotel in Luang Prabang: the Alila Luang Prabang.

With the tight building restrictions operating within the boundaries of the old town, new builds are impossible and so new central hotels have to be cunning. Amantaka was built by converting the old Luang Prabang hospital and Alila have gone one better by converting by the prison. I haven’t seen it yet, but judging by the pictures it seems the old watch tower has been turned into an interesting feature… Moreover, I hear the views of the river and the surrounding countryside will be lovely from the whole hotel – not just the watchtower…

Alila already’own one resort in town, Les 3 Nagas, which is very popular among our younger clientel and those on the look out for the unusual and the quirky in a hotel.

For now though, Amantaka is still the leader of the pack in Luang Prabang and Experience Travel have ultra competitive rates so ask us to include it in your Laos Holiday.

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The 5 Best Eco Lodge’s in Asia

31 July 2009 by

The last two posts about new eco lodges in Sri Lanka has got me thinking about the abundance of this sort of place in Asia now, coming under the somewhat subjective heading of an ‘Eco Lodge’.

The Mudhouse at night!

The Mudhouse at night!

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The Gibbon Experience – Northern Laos

27 July 2009 by
It's 5am and we have seen a Gibbon

It's 5am and we have seen a Gibbon

After spending a day and a night in the fairly depressing border town (Laos:Thailand)’of ‘Houay Xai we were’really keen to start our 3 day’”Gibbon Experience” trip.’It had been’highly recommended to us throughout Laos so we were keen to see what all the fuss was about.’ (more…)

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Luang Prabang – Northern Laos

20 July 2009 by

Alms Givign in Luang Prabang

Alms Givign in Luang Prabang


The journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang was a painful one.’ The air conditioning on the bus decided to break down and the wheel sprung a puncture.’ Not unusual occurrences in Laos, but it did make for a long, extremely hot and sweaty day.’ The pain was, however, alleviated by the extraordinarily beautiful views surrounding us as we wound our way through central Laos.’ They were simply breathtaking!
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Vang Vieng

18 July 2009 by

Now Vang Vieng is pretty much all about tubing as the numerous tee shirts you see worn in South East Asia advertise.’ But Vang Vieng does offer some other great excursions.’ The town itself has been shaped with a young western audience in mind and has numerous bars playing Friends on loop.’ However its surroundings are quite amazing.’ There are rolling hills carpeted with lush jungle dissected by the’Nam Song’river and a few spectacular caves. (more…)

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4000 Islands – Southern Laos

6 July 2009 by

The Elusive Irrawaddy Dolphin

The Elusive Irrawaddy Dolphin

After flying to Pakse in southern Laos, we immediately got a local bus (a pick up truck with some benches in) to the 4000 islands.’ Our first stop was Don Khong the largest island.’ However the bus wasn’t as direct as we had hoped and’ simply stopped at the side of the highway and we were told to get out as the driver pointed to a dirt track.’ We couldn’t tell how long this was but we did know it was midday and VERY hot!’ As we strapped on our backpacks and headed down the track a little girl came running out of one of the farming houses, she took one look at us and ran off crying!’ We must have looked like aliens with our backpacks on coupled with the amount we were sweating!’ We finally found a pier about 1 mile down the track and got a longtail boat to the island. (more…)

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